Turner Prize-winning artist Gillian Wearing said she wanted to celebrate mixed families
A £100,000 statue depicting an "ordinary" family has been unveiled - and has already sparked controversy.
Single mums Emma and Roma Jones, and their children, were chosen from nearly 400 "real" families as the focus for the statue.
The mums, who are also sisters, and their children were chosen by Turner Prize-winning artist Gillian Wearing who wanted to celebrate the idea that families can be completely mixed.
Standing outside the Library of Birmingham, the statue was unveiled yesterday but it has already sparked controversy with some critics arguing it ignores the role of fathers.
John Hemming, MP for Birmingham Yardley, said: "There’s absolutely nothing wrong with single parent families but I always find it sad when fathers are not involved in the lives of their children."
Craig Pickering, of the charity Families Need Fathers, said: "Everybody knows that families can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes but this interpretation of a family seems most bizarre. It is factually inaccurate and totally out of step.
"Children do better when they have both their mother and their father playing an active role in their lives."
The sculpture shows Roma, 29, with her son Kyan, aged four, and Emma, 27, with five-year-old Shaye and Isaac, now eight months old.
In the work of art, Isaac is just a "bump" because Emma was pregnant at the time.
The sisters applied to be immortalised in a public artwork five years ago when the Ikon Gallery and sculptor Gillian, who comes from Birmingham, invited nominations. More than 370 families applied.
Little is known about the siblings and yesterday they refused to say which part of Birmingham they live in.
They also declined to give any details about what role, if any, the fathers play in the children's lives - or if any other family members help out.
Roma, who works for a charity, said: "Those details are not relevant.
"What matters is that, as sisters, the bond we have means whatever we've experienced in our lives, we have a close relationship.
"We don't live together but live close by and support each other - we are our family."
The sculpture was made in China and cost £100,000 which was financed by a mixture of public money and private donations.
